Taken Away
by Dreamality
Summary: A Shayid fic. Sayid attempts to comfort Shannon after a tragedy occurs on the island.


**Taken Away**

**by**** Dreamality**

Rated **PG**

Sayid attempts to comfort Shannon after a tragedy. She reveals shocking secrets.

**Author's Note: **Warning –this fic will involve speculative spoilers. It takes place post-Homecoming and is a theory on what will happen, based on spoilers regarding character death. Although it is from my imagination and is PURELY a theory, if you don't want to be spoiled I don't recommend reading this.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own LOST or any related plots, characters, etc.

-

She's trembling in my arms, and no matter how many kind words I murmur into her ear she won't stop sobbing.

"He's dead!" she shrieks, her words echoing through the jungle over and over again.

Her breath comes in shaky gasps at first. Each one is increasingly difficult and each one draws less oxygen into her lungs than the last. The asthma is resurfacing and soon she won't be breathing. I know she won't leave by choice so I gather her into my arms and carry her away.

She kicks and screams and fights me but I hold on tight. Through the jungle I take her, away from Boone's bleeding, lifeless body. Locke and Jack will take care of the body. I have to take care of her.

Sun already has some of the medicinal mixture prepared. The blessed woman always some prepared in case the asthma came back. I rest Shannon on the ground, her back against the hard cave wall, and rip her shirt partly open so Sun can put the medicine on her chest.

"Shannon, please breathe," I whisper, just as Boone once did for her. Before he died, before a stray bullet killed his curiosity.

It wasn't Boone's fault, nor was it Locke's, whose gun had loosed the bullet that took Boone's life. We –Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Kate, and I– had gone into the jungle with our weapons because someone had seen a man, a stranger, at the edge of camp the previous night. I believed it was one of the "others" Danielle had spoken of and once more we all feared for Claire's safety.

Locke found the trail easily. We trekked through the jungle until we heard voices. These were not the mysterious whispers I had once heard but concrete words that came from solid bodies. There were two men in a clearing. They appeared to be keeping guard, but of what we could not tell.

They were talking about Ethan and Claire. They said they were going to get her back that night and find whoever had killed Ethan and get their revenge. Locke motioned to us to keep our weapons raised and ready but not to fire until his command. The men we were watching had guns of their own in holsters on their hips. We wanted to get as much information out of them as we could before killing them to protect Claire.

Behind us, rustling bushes caught our attention. Jack, Sawyer, and Kate kept their weapons trained on the men in the clearing while Locke and I slowly turned and walked towards the bushes to investigate. The rustling increased.

The men in the clearing heard it. One shouted, calling the names of other men who must have been close by, while the second raised his weapon.

Three shots fired at once from three different guns.

The two men fell dead.

From the bushes came another form, lunging forward, tripping and falling as Locke fired.

The man screamed. It was so loud it must have carried back to camp, must have been heard by Shannon, must have sent her running through the jungle until she found her brother dead on the jungle floor.

Boone had followed us, obviously sick of staying behind. He wanted to be a hero. He wanted his chance to prove himself. Instead he heard the shots, got scared, and forced Locke to fire at a blur of motion. Neither of us recognized his face until after the bullet entered his body. It penetrated his chest, went straight through the heart, and clean out the back. Boone died only a few seconds later.

The medicine isn't working yet. Shannon still can't breathe. I lift her again and lean her against my chest, rubbing her back and begging her to breathe.

"Shannon, please, you have to breathe, you have to live. He would want you to breathe. He would hate to see you like this," I whisper, and it seems to have some effect on her.

Everyone is gathered around as though they are spectators at a sporting event. Their eyes stare at her in horror and ask me questions I don't want to answer.

"Get away!" I yell. "Give her air, can't you see she needs air! Get away from her!"

They back away slowly, frightened by my panic. Shannon still can't breathe and Sun looks frightened. When I look at Shannon's face it has begun to turn blue.

"Shannon," Sun whispers. "Please breathe. Watch me." She demonstrates, taking deep, even breaths. For some reason no one seems surprised that she speaks English. There is too much going on for me to care.

She's trying. I feel her try to take a breath, fail, and try again. "Don't give up," I whisper. "Please, Shannon, breathe!"

Finally she begins to breathe. For a few minutes I just hold her, listening to the comforting sound of each inhale and exhale. She puts her arms around me and clings tightly, still trembling, fingernails digging into my back. Sun leaves her bowl of medicine with me and walks away, giving us privacy.

"Sayid," she whispers, and sounds so very young. "Sayid, what happened? Why is he… why did…?"

"It was an accident, Shannon," I explain. "We didn't know Boone had followed us. He surprised us and someone fired." I don't want to say who killed Boone. I don't think Shannon could take it. I'm not sure I can take it.

"I didn't see him leave. We all heard the guns fire. When I heard the scream…" Shannon breaks off and I tighten my hold, pressing my face against the top of her head and letting my lips brush against her soft hair.

"He'll still be with you," I whisper. For some reason Shannon lets go of me and clutches her stomach. She rocks back and forth, biting her lower lip so hard it begins to bleed. Her eyes are squeezed tightly shut. Something in her face frightens me. It's as though she's no longer next to me but somewhere far away. "Shannon, it's all right. He felt no pain, I promise you."

"He didn't know. I never told him," she whispers. The voice doesn't sound like hers, yet it is familiar. I realize that it sounds exactly like the strange whispers I heard in the jungle and a chill runs down my spine.

"Never told him what?" I ask.

Shannon opens her eyes. There is a slightly wild look in them, like an animal about to be attacked by a predator. "Sayid, I'm pregnant. With Boone's child."

All around me, the world slows down. I can't tear my eyes away from her but in the corner of my eye I see Jack, Locke, Sawyer, and Kate returning to camp, carrying Boone between them. I turn Shannon away, guiding her head to rest on my shoulder so she doesn't have to look at his body.

Night falls and neither Shannon nor I move from where we are. Somehow, through choked sobs and shameful whispers, Shannon tells me everything. How she and Boone came to be stepsiblings. How Boone was in love with her. How she used that love to her advantage when money was short. Eventually it caught up with her and in a moment of weakness she allowed Boone one night.

All through the night, until the first light of morning casts warmth upon her thin body, I hold her and I listen and I say nothing. She shows me her stomach, hidden now beneath clothes that are of a less revealing nature than those she came to the island in. It has already begun to swell, only just a little bit. It could be explained away, since hunger causes the stomach to swell, but when Shannon takes my hand and places it on her stomach I know.

There is no movement; the fetus is too young for that. It's just a feeling I get when my hand touches her skin. There is a baby beneath my hand, growing and developing.

"Shannon, have you been eating properly since the crash?" I ask. I already know the answer and the effect it will have on the child. I've watched her, how she only nibbles on some fruit every so often and spends most of her time drinking water. She shakes her head.

"I didn't know I was pregnant. Then I missed my period. This is Boone's child and I never told him," she sobs. Her eyes are haunted by inner demons and my touch no longer comforts her. We remain in the caves for a few more hours, until the sun has risen high into the blue expanse.

They bury Boone that morning.

Shannon collapses beside his grave and I carry her back to the caves, allowing Jack to take over and try to help her.

She loses the baby that afternoon.

The island has taken so much already. All of us have lost whatever innocence we may have come here with. Hope was stolen and faith crumbled. The island took some of our own; Joanna, gone so quickly and never found, and Scott, now buried beneath the beach. Boone rests beside him, dirt still freshly churned.

Now the island has taken a child and I'm afraid it has marked its mother as its next victim. I will not let this island take Shannon from me.

Should the island comes for her, I will give myself instead.

-

**The End.**


End file.
